This is just a blog for thoughts - songs that are speaking to me, pics from where I've been today, or projects on the drawing board.Just a random outlet. An area of free association. Comments welcome - though anon's are discouraged please. Enjoy your stay & come again.Please note: The content of this blog does not represent the views of any organisations to which I belong.disclaimer

The Jazz Singer is playing behind me.I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the cinema when that was first screened. The crowd's reactions to something we take for granted in our everyday viewing... it would have been phenomenal.

"Talking pictures... it's vulgar... it will never amount to a thing.""That's what they said about the horseless carriage."

My visit to Melbourne, and SE region in and around Ringwood, involved in no particular order:

Tim Finn, James Blunt, drunk follow-spot light man, a pool, hot weather then rainy hot weather, not-shy fans of not-shy lesbians, making out, coronas, strongbows, a nasty hole in my toe, missing out on QVM jam donuts, a cool artsy hostel, a very cool theatre on Flinders St, stupid pub managers, an independant band with KISS-style makeup, nice skybus people, a big black dog called jack, a slightly less large boxer dog called monty who slobbered on me, a mystery bruise, playing with shutters on my camera, rediscovering of highlights from last easter's visit like the bowling bar and adjoining wine boutique and the scary fountain, a long and costly cab ride, nice JW's from NZ, crosswords, cockroaches and other insects, yucky sinuses, late nights and sleep ins, introspection retrospection & quiet resolutions, sms', a call of love from Ember in sufer's paradise, yelling at quizmania, Chinese New Year street celebrations, KFC and Hungry Jacks (ewww), an Irish pub that played Faith No More, learning the metcard system again, trains, trams and lots of walking with my bag around the hot hilly Melbourne streets, and a brush with 'fame' in the Info centre in Federation Square: the annoying loud boy-girl with glasses from Jamie's Kitchen... *shudder*

I think that's everything.

My return home and the following day involved in no particular order:

Mugged at the airport (Dirk literally jumped 'on' me), The Pancake Kitchen, a spunky waiter boy, notes of love complete with phone number and hearts and stars, discounted sushi, melody pops, photos outside festival theatre, singing lots of Wicked, watching an electrical storm, The Game (dammit I just lost!!), backseat groping, tickling, photos of stars, being ghosts in a carpark, pirate pistols and patches, subway, photos at the beach, sugar-art in Billy Baxters', an excursion to the city, passport photos, fingerprinting, licenses, centrelink regulars, napkin hats in Parisis Cafe, finding Spats Cafe closed yet again (we're always either too early or too late), spunky joggers in swimming trunks, D & Ms while laying on the grass watching the stars, cuddles and bites, a boring beauracrat whose signature I needed, and a man laying under a bike in an alley - not hurt, not asleep, just laying.

So... now that I'm no longer with Pixi, I'm not spending every second week away.That means I'm ready to kill my parents again.I found out last week that I got the table games job. I knew I had it when I left the first interview.I start training at the end of February.

The sooner I'm trained and begin saving money again, the sooner I can get a place of my own.That was the aim this time last year but all the travelling that Pixi required meant I got my 'away' fix, and that if I had been renting a place, I'd be paying for twice the time I'd actually spend living there.So the plan is -

Stick with this job for as long as I can... I went in and watched the other dealers after my photo interview, I have twice the personality than some I saw... though they may have started about 4am that morning.

If I hear back from the photo studio too this week I'll try and juggle them both as much as I'm able.

Pay off my new guitar that's in the city waiting for me to make it mine.

Hopefully be paid back by everyone that owes me money still.

Start searching for a new place and a different car. I wonder if by that time that place Dirk and Eli and I saw will be still available? Doubt it.

I turned on the TV and Rage was playing.First Sarah Blasko, then Bob Evans, then Augie March, and I'm thinking 'alright they're playing some good shit finally'... and then My Chemical Romance came on and it killed it all.

Oh by the way, surfing and finding her site just reminded me:Does anyone else, other than carly who was with me the first time I discovered this, that a writer of female erotica books and films called Candida Royalle is kinda weird?

Can't think why that makes me a little uncomfortable? For the unenlightened, Google in 'candida' and see why...

And if you're thinking 'duh vicki I know what candida is why are you telling me to google it?', I say it only because when carly and I were trying not to giggle staring at this book for sale while stating that it was an odd name to use, a lady beside us said 'Yes it must be French or something..."

Why yes, yes it must be.

Why? Why would you?And if it's a pen-name.... doubly so, WHY WOULD YOU???

Today we went to see the carnage after the past bushfire at Mt Bold about a month or so (?) ago.We're going again next month and this time I'll take my camera. I didn't have the Canon with me and the Fuji and I are not on speaking terms right now.On our way we pulled into a farm and patted alpacas, and the resident dog Charlie... who was more of a greeter than a guard dog. The white ring-in alpaca was named Eli and I chuckled. Have always liked the name, and alpacas. I want a white alpaca called Eli now... and Eliza will just have to be called Eliza when they're together :PThen on to Mt. Bold. It was quiet and the walkways were roped off.After the sobering experience staring at the scarred hills and black and brown remaining vegetation, we headed to Clarendon where we found a nice picnic spot, complete with tadpoles and blackberries.Mm blackberries... i think I have a thorn in my thumb tho *cry*.

We were running the show, not the Opus politicians (not that they didn't try, but Eli and I shot her them down)

Ted and I got inspired to pick up our previously deprioritized stage project that I'd started aaaaages ago.

I became closely acquainted with a new bunch of rather cool people.

It was a shock, but being a Stage Manager wasn't that bad... mostly.

Not since Little Shop in 2002 have I met, and continued to hang out with, new and interesting people from a play. I still see Apey, Ness and Lex from Little Shop, we're always going to be partners in crime. It's kinda weird tho because I'm the granny of this new clique. Usually I'm the baby... hehe odd.

Anyway, hopefully this rent-a-crowd stays glued together. I'd hate for it to be like so many other productions where we see each other for a little while, but eventually fall by the wayside.

My Disney experience is a great example of that. But as I blogged on my 'away' site Captain's Log, I kinda was expecting that to happen.

I declared long ago that the production that Ted and I are working on shall be cast entirely of my elite. I've mentally cast people from Little Shop, Ali Baba and Disney.

Anyway back to what I was talking about.Old friends are awesome - I want that disclaimer straight upfront. I'm not replacing, just expanding hehehe.But new friends are such an eye-opening experience. You learn new things about people and the world they live in and even about yourself.

I think what I'm saying in a mushy kind of way is simply that I'm glad of the new people I've met lately. I really do love them.

Lastnight I did a truckload of work on the computer (editing and burning the backlog of stage productions) then as I left the computer to let the projects render I decided to flip through the channels before putting on a movie.The last episode (my fav) of Tipping The Velvet was just starting! I was happy. Except it had been edited a little, I noticed that alot of things I liked in the episode had been but cut. But never mind. I'll treat myself to the DVD one day.

For some reason Florence reminds me of Emily... I don't know why, they're nothing alike.Corset? The Era? No idea.

My second corset came today. It's not as nice as the gold one that I still need to fix. And today we made a pattern off the bustier I hired for Saturday night... woohoo I was a smexy pirate girl... with a touch of gypsy thanks to the skirt, and Eli's fedora fitted kinda nicely too.

Tanya, Lex and Apey couldn't come, and Ness never got back to me. But we had our clique from the panto. Like-minded fools are we.

Emily and Ashton came, and so did Ted and Nafes. Yay. After a while, I think the latter had left, the remainder of our party were involved in such a huge 'you're so cool' fest that I observed "this is just going to turn into one big orgy isn't it?". They laughed, I was funny. Actually we were all firing the jokes well. Come to think of it, we're a well-matched group for that.

We were amused by the brace-necked tapper again - she tapped on our table - and Dirk danced with her. She also observed that Ted and Nafes didn't seem to be the dancer type and I nearly cacked my head off. How far off the mark. Perhaps they passed for straight boys?

The nice girl there remembered me *sigh*. So I spoke to her again a little, and got smiles.Pfft, she's no doubt just being a friendly bar tender... it's her job to be nice.My mum wants me to ask her out.My mum evidently doesn't know how to play things slow and cool ;)The poor girl doesnt even know my name! And I know nothing about her other than her name, that she's fun to watch making those Absynthe drinks Dirk and Eli got with the sparkly cinnamon (a Flaming Faerie), and that she goes to Mars (Dirk told me her saw her and liked her hair hehe)...

Not a huge fan of Mars. Been invited there Friday night.

After Boho we went to the Ed Castle but declared 'the Ed was dead'.Eli and Dirk amused themselves by dancing alone on stage as wooden puppet dolls... I'm told I'm to be their Gepetto spruiker for the Fringe parade.

Oh oh I forgot!Before we left, Eli and I met at Dirk's place to get ready and we met some of his 'friends'. As soon as they walked in the door they slagged what he was wearing - which Eli and I disagreed highly with because he was looking spunky! (Boys in corsets... sigh). I voiced this opinion and the girl in the Dorothy shoes told me I had poor judgement. For Dirk's sake I didn't reply as I wanted, which was something along the lines of "Evidently so does Dirk cos he said you were cool cos you had ruby slippers! Take them off, you're not worthy to wear them! And get out if you're going to slag off your apparent 'friend' and not let him be his spunky self!"Or words to that effect.Instead, Eli and I just exchanged glances of 'What the hell?' and Eli rode with me so we could bitch about them.

When we were at Boho they kept to themselves and didnt socilaize with us at all, then later they left cos they "weren't having fun", then later still Dirk received a text saying that he was now kicked out of their cool group.I think I wet myself laughing.He reflected that they never let him be himself and I told him not to mourn, cos we're his mates now and we love him. Then we all mass-hugged him and told him welcome to the Dark Side muhahahahahaha. I think that's when I made the orgy comment, as we were all on a couch upstairs in The Boudir. I think Emily said she was moving in... I knew she'd like it.

We must like our gay couches.

Warning: Unrelated content.Today I got a call from GFP Studios asking for an interview. So this week I find out about the first job I went for, and Friday I have an interview for another. And tomorrow I'm supposed to go to Work Skil to register with them again so they can apparently help me find a job... not that they have EVER done so the 2 times I've been required to join them previously. Centrelink has stupid rules. I feel like going there tomorrow and saying "I'm only here cos Centrelink is making me, I'm doing fine by myself thanks, can we just not and say we did?"

If someone had told me that Play 'n' Fun Children's Play Cafe had been re-painted all Tim Burton, I'd have frequented it more before its now looming closure. Damn. I met Dirk too late *sniff*.

Yesterday after playing at Billy Baxters, Eli and I took our rent-a-crowd to see Dirk working at Play 'n' Fun and played in the maze-junglegym-slide thing, and frolicked in the ball pit. It was sheer delight.

I got to (somehow) squish into the Firetruck and go 'wooooOOOOOoooooo'.

And we were a bit big for the mazey thing, but we managed. I got through the smaller obstacles by commando crawling, Which Emma and I confessed was kinda fun.

A small boy joined us in the bigger ball cage and was quite happy hurling exercise balls twice his size at us. It was hilarious. And as soon as he left we resumed our hardcore war with them.

Anita, Dirk and Eli enjoyed the Carousel also. Emma said it was something to do when theatre people get together, or words to that effect.

It's summertime again and there's diamonds in the wavesthe sun has set but the ground still burnsAnd in the still twilight the ice trickles down her throatthe horizon is on fire and the clouds look like embers.

I love it when people choose to sit beside you on a train full of empty seats.

It was ugly day in the city on Thursday. Either that or I was just looking so spunky... and killing some time in the airconditioning of The Berkley of all places :z perhaps the ugliness was simply localised in that part of Adelaide? And my radience made it seem worse?

It's very likely.

I went to my interview in tweed pants, black shirt, and white tie. I was hot... in more ways than one. But I think I wow'ed them again (lots of nods and impressed noises and I made them laugh alot) and Tanya told me she gave me a glowing reference which means they checked my references earlier than they said they would. Cross your limbs. I'd like any job, but this job in particular.

Burlesque party with other spunky souls at BOHO tonight. I've worked hard to scrounge myself a wenchy pirate outfit. Not bad cept I'm going to boil... small price to pay for spunks like us.

I have instructions that I'm to talk to the hot bar girl again... yeah we'll see.